Sister Emma Gore

It got real hot and real humid real quick this week.

And everyone keeps saying this is only the beginning. An increase of prayers is requested. ;)

But actually, everything is wonderful and good!!

I went on exchanges with Sister E in Cochran, GA this week. She hit her 18 month mark on the 28th and is a literal light. She is so happy and calm and her trust in God is so evident in everything she does. Cochran is great, too. We both set goals on our exchange to follow the Spirit better and respond to promptings immediately. Doing so led us to 2 new investigators for the Cochran sisters. (For someone to be a new investigator you have to share a principle with them, commit them to do something, and set up a return appointment). Anyways. It was a super awesome day and I am thankful for sweet Sister Training Leaders.

We had a super awesome experience with an investigator named this week. We have been meeting with her for about 2 weeks and have been working on helping her to feel comfortable praying. We left with her a pamphlet about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. On one of the last pages there is a "How Can I Know" section. It talks about the role of the Holy Ghost in helping us to recognize truth, and then teaches very simply how to pray - how to address God, speak whatever is in your heart, and close in the name of Jesus Christ. We were at her house this week and were fortunate enough to find her 2 boys at home , too. At the end of the lesson we asked her son if he would be willing to pray for us. He hesitated and immediately mom jumped up from the couch and ran to her room to get her pamphlet. Then she taught her son to pray from the book and he said such an honest and sincere prayer in front of all of us! It was so cool to see her so eager to teach her son what she had learned. The gospel of Jesus Christ really does bless families. Home is the best place for us to learn correct principles, practice living them, and prepare ourselves for the temptations and fiery darts of the adversary. I know this because I was so fortunate as to grow up in a home where goodly parents taught me what was right - it was such a blessing to see her teaching her family and striving to bring the gospel into their lives.

As we were leaving C's house, we met his next door neighbor as she was walking back to her house from the car. She is a girl of about 15 and she is so awesome! She is super mature and plays trumpet (!!!) in Perry High's marching band. (their band has about 250 people and they always get superiors, btw). Anyways. she shared with us some of her story - her family literally had nothing and was struggling to get by. At God's hand, they have all found jobs and a place to live and peace and comfort. She talked to us about how she has learned to trust God for all she does in this life. She relies on Him for everything and has incredible faith! She prays always and prayed with us before we left. We testified to her about the restoration of Christ's church to the Earth and she invited us to come back and teach her more! She seems incredibly sincere and honest. What a miracle to find someone so prepared for the gospel right as we were acknowledging that another family was not prepared! God put her in our path that day.

This week I have been studying repentance in the Book of Mormon. I love what we read in 2 Nephi 2:21 - "For [God] gave commandment that all men must repent." God recognizes that we are weak and imperfect and will fall short of keeping commandments x, y, and z. So he commands us to repent of those things and try again! We are commanded to return to God - to grow closer to Him - to become better - to find peace as we repent - to become more like Jesus Christ - to draw on the power of the Atonement and experience a mighty change in our hearts - to come to the "knowledge of the Lord their God, and...rejoice in Jesus Christ their Redeemer"(Alma 37:9). And it gets even better - "As oft as they repented and sought forgiveness, with real intent, they were forgiven"(Moroni 6:8). God is so merciful and full of love for us. I was so blown away this week by the incredible hope and joy that I have because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I can always repent and return to God. He commands it. How beautiful is that? God is 100% for us, and all we have to do is turn to Him with willing hearts to see miracles and to be happy. We already know who wins. Choose the winning team. Choose Jesus Christ. Choose eternal life. Choose to repent and return to God.

Thank you for your prayers and your letters.

Keep being good.

Love,

Sister Gore